Graphics and Media Lab

This project deals with objective comparison of video codecs, mostly of H.264 standard.
In 2005-2006 two comparsons of video codecs were conducted by our lab. In the first comparison we compared the following codecs:

• Mpegable AVC Codec
• Moonlight H.264 Video Codec
• MainConcept H.264 Codec
• Fraunhofer IIS Codec
• Ateme MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 Codec
• Videosoft H.264 Codec
• DivX Pro 5.1.1 Codec (NOT 264! Used for comparison with H.264 codecs as well tuned codec from previous generation MPEG-4 ASP)

Following codecs took part in the second comparison:

• DivX 6.0 (Not H.264 video codec, tested as reference codec)
• ArcSoft H.264
• Ateme H.264
• ATI H.264
• Elecard H.264
• Fraunhofer IIS H.264
• VSS H.264
• x264

Codecs were compared using PSNR - most commonly accepted objective metric. In addition, VQM and SSIM were used in the second comparison. In second comparison tho presets of codecs were evaluated: "Maximum quality" and "Balanced" (more speed oriented). Full aqnalysis and results can be found in PDF with the comparisons.

References

1. First Annual MSU MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codecs Comparison
2. Second Annual MSU MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codecs Comparison